Mt.Gox policy about changes to withdrawal limits

[ripper234]

Does Mt. Gox have a public policy about how withdrawal limits can be changed?

E.g. I can withdraw up to 2000 BTC a month. Is it possible that Mt. Gox will change this policy (e.g. if 1 BTC = $1,000) without properly notifying their customers in advance?

I would like an official and public reply from Gox about this, and have emailed this thread to their support.

[tarrant_01]

I do remember seeing a public notice not too long ago about them changing their withdraw limits due to the price hike. I'm sure it's around here somewhere.

[ripper234]

Very prompt reply from them:

Yes, it has actually taken effect and we have notified the change in limits on our website. Please find the announcement link below.

https://mtgox.com/press_release_20130313.html

1. My trusted account still says that 2000 BTC is my daily withdraw limit. You should fix this technical error.
2. Why didn't I get an email about this change? The change is important enough, and it feels like a lack of transparency on your part.
3. ** Major issue ** - you announced these changes, affective immediately. I expected you to properly notify via email to all customers at least 1-2 weeks _before_ changing your restrictions.

Until further notice, I will assume the withdrawal limits can be changed arbitrarily, without prior notice via email. This means I will prefer not to keep any BTC on Mt. Gox.
I will now post this correspondence to the public forum.

[ripper234]

1. You have a verified account and as in the announcement, this change does not affect the verified user`s limit before the change took place.

2. We do not email all users about this because we have already made an official announcement about this and some users do not like to be spammed by constant email notifications from us.

3. We have been considering this for a while due to the bitcoin price increase. Thank you for your kind understanding in this matter.

[alexkravets]

Does Mt. Gox have a public policy about how withdrawal limits can be changed?

What about a public policy on how a public policy on withdrawal limits can be changed ? :-)

Guys,

If you keep either USDs or BTCs at any exchange or "online wallet" ... you're missing the whole point of Bitcoin, because all you have are essentially IOUs from those organizations.

Those IOUs are subject to various "hazards" such as theft, vandalism (destruction of databases), bankruptcy, judgments, gov't seizure, etc.

Unless you have precious metals in your hand or BTCs in the Blockchain with full control of your own private keys ... all you really have are IOUs with various probabilities of redemption :-)

Cheers ...

[ripper234]

What about a public policy on how a public policy on withdrawal limits can be changed ? :-)

touché

[coqui33]

Guys,

If you keep either USDs or BTCs at any exchange or "online wallet" ... you're missing the whole point of Bitcoin, because all you have are essentially IOUs from those organizations.

Those IOUs are subject to various "hazards" such as theft, vandalism (destruction of databases), bankruptcy, judgments, gov't seizure, etc.

Unless you have precious metals in your hand or BTCs in the Blockchain with full control of your own private keys ... all you really have are IOUs with various probabilities of redemption :-)

Cheers ...

Amen. Why is this so hard for people to grasp? Sheesh!

[shamntalk]

I think a lot of people keep their BTCs on the exchanges today because they need to have the capability to sell them on very short notice - read minutes not hours.

[ripper234]

I was actually keeping funds at Mt. Gox as a way to elevate the risk of hacking.
I have a Yubikey so I'm pretty relaxed about funds there, while some of my other wallets are easier to hack into.

Sometimes having no way to access your wallet offline is an advantage.
E.g. with My Wallet I get Dropbox/email backups whenever I change anything which is great, but this also means that an attacker doesn't really need to bypass 2nd auth - he can just capture my password and crack the backup.

With Mt. Gox there is no way to access the funds without a Yubikey. Still, the downsides/risk of them arbitrarily changing their policies is too great.

[alexkravets]

I think a lot of people keep their BTCs on the exchanges today because they need to have the capability to sell them on very short notice - read minutes not hours.

Right ... those confirmation times ... lol.  Well at least Cryptocurrency 2.0 (Ripple) fixes that :-)

[alexkravets]

Sometimes having no way to access your wallet offline is an advantage.
E.g. with My Wallet I get Dropbox/email backups whenever I change anything which is great, but this also means that an attacker doesn't really need to bypass 2nd auth - he can just capture my password and crack the backup.

Right, bc.i service IS incredibly convenient, but the problem you mention is real. The solution I eventually stumbled upon is to have segregated funds, I.e. an address for petty Bitcoin expenses which can be safely stored on and used through bc.i chrome extension and a watch-only address for savings whose private key is not inside the bc.i wallet.  This way you get all the benefits, w/o most of the risks.

The private key for savings should instead be backed up offline (in your brain as a well chosen pass phrase WITH SALT (I.e. should include something unique to you like your email addres to thwart dictionary attacks))

For offline backup, I like custom dog tags :-) indestructible.

Cheers

[justusranvier]

Guys,

If you keep either USDs or BTCs at any exchange or "online wallet" ... you're missing the whole point of Bitcoin, because all you have are essentially IOUs from those organizations.

Those IOUs are subject to various "hazards" such as theft, vandalism (destruction of databases), bankruptcy, judgments, gov't seizure, etc.

Unless you have precious metals in your hand or BTCs in the Blockchain with full control of your own private keys ... all you really have are IOUs with various probabilities of redemption

This can not be emphasized enough.